Krishna Dancing at the Holi Festival (Festival of Colors)

I saw many beautiful expressions of joy at the Holi Festival at the Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork, Utah but none compared to the joy I saw on the face and in the body of this dancer.  When I saw her, there was already a large crowd gathered around her.  She was both fully experiencing joy independent of the crowd as well as being aware of the joy she was bringing the crowd through her expressive dance.

Her dance was a mixture of traditional hula hooping, moving her body through the hula hoop, and hand gestures.  I searched the internet to see if I could find more information on the meaning of this dance.  I found several YouTube videos but no specific information about Krishna dancing with a hula hoop.

I was able to find information about Krishna dancing in general on this site http://krishna.org/kirtana-the-song-of-ecstasy-the-dance-of-the-soul/ It says that Krishna dancing is called “kirtana” and “There is no motive in performing kirtana. It is the song and dance of ecstasy, the dance of the soul. The soul is dancing; therefore, the body is dancing. “

 

I know very little about Krishna beliefs and practices beyond what I have heard preached between color throws the two years that I have been to the festival but much of it seems to be about being your best self and living with joy.  Certainly ideas that most of us could benefit from integrating into our own lives.  It is odd perhaps to compare Dave Ramsey’s teaching to that of Krishna but I heard both talk about not wasting time on trying to make your weakness strong but rather work on making your strengths even stronger.  Because you will never excel at your weaknesses but you will be able to excel at your strengths.  I also heard preached at the festival the law of attraction.  The Law of Attraction is basically that you attract to you and go toward those things that you think about, be they positive or negative.  I personally believe that it takes a lot of hard work to get the positive outcomes that you want but focusing on the positive outcomes rather than all of the barriers to achieving them certainly makes it a lot easier to keep working towards those outcomes.

 

Here are some additional pictures of the dance.